Title: An Angel Gets His Wings
Author: Missy Welsh
Publisher: MLR
Length: 14k words
Genre: m/m Contemporary Romance
Heat: 3 – Sexy & Mild
Sex Frequency: 3 – Average Story to Sex
Keywords/Tags: Short Story, Coming Out, First Times, Abandonment, Christmas, Southern Men, Twinks, Hurt/Comfort, HFN
Rating: Really Like It!
Reviewed by Sadonna
**Spoiler Alert! While this story can certainly be read as a stand alone book, I think the reader might enjoy it that much more having read Every Time a Bell Rings first. Some of the conversations and events in this book could be considered a little bit spoilery for the first book.**
BLURB
Will closeted Mike make it through this year’s family Christmas without succumbing to the innocent charms of his long-lost “cousin” George?
Mike Sharp is in Little Rock, Arkansas, visiting his family for Christmas while his best friend Brian Bailey’s up north walking right into Mike’s plans to hook him up with his neighbor Trent. Unfortunately, it seems like someone’s conspiring to get Mike panting after his third cousin, twice removed (or something like that) named George Whitlock. George who keeps sneaking up on him, being all shy and cute, and then having the audacity to give Mike great big calf eyes that are just begging Mike to drop to his knees. Mike will not give in because, if he does, he could lose his entire family when they discover he’s gay.
REVIEW
I can’t believe that I didn’t know this was a related story to Missy Welsh’s Every Time a Bell Rings from last year’s MLR Holiday stories when I told Cole I wanted to review it. When I started reading, I thought, “Hmmmm. This seems like it’s characters similar to another story I read.” Duh! So I went back and read my review for that story and here’s what I said, “My favorite character really was Mike – Brian’s best friend. I hope we can have a good story about him.” Apparently I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Thank you Missy!
This story takes place in parallel to Every Time a Bell Rings and tells us what takes place with Mike in Little Rock while Brian is spending Christmas in his apartment back in Ohio and being taken care of by Trent, Mike’s neighbor. Mike is at his family’s home for Christmas along with his extended family of cousins and aunts and uncles. But there seems to be a new addition – a very attractive young distant cousin names George that has Michael very hot and bothered right off. Mike is very worried that this perfectly “fuckable” guy is going to blow his cover with his homophobic family. Mike’s entire inner conversation about this delicious little twink is hilarious! I so love Mike’s voice.
George has a habit of sneaking up on Mike and each one of these instances results in a conversation that reveals a little more to us about George. His mother has passed away in the past year and he needs someplace to stay, so he’s staying with Mike’s family “for a while.” Mike doesn’t like how serious and sad George seems and he wants to make him smile. He spies a white bandage around George’s wrist that gives him pause. He doesn’t want to dredge up anything that might make George even more somber than he already is. Then at Christmas dinner, somehow a food fight erupts and George and Mike go to clean up. One thing leads to another once some clothes come off and Mike and George end up doing more than changing their clothes.
Mike and George have a serious conversation about family and acceptance and love and mistakes and healing. And Mike discovers that maybe his secret isn’t so secret after all and he doesn’t have to hide his true nature. He also discovers that he may be developing real feelings for George and not just want this to be some sort of a fling. Mostly he wants to protect George and see him happy and laughing. I don’t want to reveal any more of the story here, because it is like a nice Christmas present and should be opened and revealed only to the recipient. Anything else I write would spoil the surprise.
I really loved Mike’s voice once again. This is why he was my favorite character from last year’s story. He is so funny and refreshing but with a heart of gold. I’m so happy that Missy gave us his Christmas story and hopefully we might have more stories with Mike and Brian and Trent and George in the future. This is truly a wonderful feel-good story that will make the season bright!
The Armchair Reader 